The Vivo V9 Pro comes with face unlock feature and a fingerprint scanner.

Highlights

The V9 Pro is priced at Rs 19,990, but will be available for a special price of Rs 17,990.

You can buy one from Amazon India during the Great India Festival.

The smartphone comes with a screen-to-body ratio of 90 percent.

The smartphone market is an interesting playground. You hear of names. Big names. And their top-of-the-line flagships. With their big price tags. You wonder how a lot of it is far beyond reach. Then comes along some special devices. I find quite a few from not-so-big names, with products that offer you much of what the star names do. To borrow from Louis Armstrong, “I think to myself, what a wonderful world!” It’s moments like those, when you find a beautiful, affordable device, where you’re not ridden by the guilt of indulgence, but the joy of sharing. You’re not worrying of the pain of biting into a fruit that wasn’t yours to begin with, but is the pride of your labor. These are the emotions I foresee in anyone who uses the VivoV9 Pro.

It doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg, but it will give you immense joy if you used one. There will always be a battle between devices to show off the better, but some packages are always more exciting than the rest. And you’d love to have one in your palm. It is priced at Rs 19,990, and will be available via Amazon India. You can buy one at a special price of Rs 17,990 during Amazon India’s Great India Festival.

Design and appeal

Everyone’s trying to be different these days. I see dual color bodies, shimmering metallic finish, multiple color options, varying gold variants. But how do you blend subtle and sophisticated? How could you possibly keep it sober yet stylish? The answer is Black and Golden Chrome. Black for elegance, Gold for style. Minimal Gold to keep it sober, yet evoke an impression. It’s a statement. And one that doesn’t cost you your world. What a wonderful world, remember?

This one time, the product is light. If you’re a smartphone addict like me, you’d not have to crack your knuckles after a long day of use. It feels as light as a small notepad. So light you could leave it on garden plants. I’ve no clue why you’d want to do that. That’s the advantage of using plastic. Despite the material, the finish takes on the beauty of metal.

The vertical edges of the device taper off and make you feel the device is much slimmer than it really is. This is an old trick used in the tech world, and mastered by Apple with the MacBook Air. Look at the front edge in the MacBook Air and the device is really slim, but just take a look at the bottom edge of the display, and you’d realize the MacBook Air is much thicker than you think it is. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, rather it speaks of the thought put in by the design engineers to make it easy on your ergonomically.

OS and Software

The Vivo V9 Pro comes with Android Oreo 8.1 out of the box which has Vivo’s own Funtouch OS layer on top of it. What’s interesting about Funtouch is its eerie resemblance to iOS. So if iPhones are out of reach, but you love the UI, then Funtouch devices are worth some serious consideration for you. You can set up your device in a long list of Indian languages, besides the usual English, or even Hindi that’s normally the language of choice for most smartphone users in India.

The Vivo V9 Pro offers AI optimization with the Smart Camera. This is also popularly referred to as face beautification feature that reduces blemishes and marks on the face when you click photos. In addition to this, the Game Mode enhances in-game user experience by focusing on performance.

Hardware and power

In terms of hardware, the Vivo V9 Pro is powered by a Snapdragon 660 SoC with an octa-core CPU. Vivo has tried to infuse elements of AI through the system, with Jovi, in two primary ways. 6GB RAM ensures the device is fluid, and 64GB onboard storage. Providing juice to all this indulgence is a 3,260mAh battery. Vivo provides a 5V/2A charger in the box for fast charging your device.

The Vivo V9 Pro has a 6.1-in FHD+ screen with an IPS capacitive touch display and 90 percent screen-to-body ratio.

First impressions

To sum up my initial impressions of the Vivo V9 Pro, it offers refreshing design in an otherwise crowded segment. Although it’s not really made up of premium materials like glass and specially treated metal, it feels premium. In addition, Funtouch offers features such as split screen, app clone, Wi-Fi Display that enhance the utility value of the device. All in all, the Vivo V9 Pro manages to get our attention to begin with. We would share a more in-depth review shortly. Stay tuned.

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